This guide contains:

Overview on background check web sites
Important features and options of background check services
How to find the best background check service for you

This short guide was created to help you understand the basics of background check companies and how to find the best background check web site for you. We do not offer any background check services ourselves, so you can be assured that all of the information in this guide is independent and unbiased.

Overview on background checks
Background checks are usually done in the course of pre-employment screening, which means that a potential employer will research a prospective employee to judge his or her suitability for a job. Background checks are also done for the purposes of judging whether or not a person will be given access to classified information within a certain job. The more sensitive the job or the classified information, the more detailed the background check will be. For example, a person applying for a job with the FBI will receive a much more thorough background check than someone applying for a retail job. There are many companies that perform background checks for employers and others, and they work by searching a variety of public and private databases and providing a consolidated report on the person or people under scrutiny.

Important features and functions of background check companies
As mentioned above, background check companies will typically use a variety of public and private databases as their main tools to generate a report. Some of the information that may be available includes:

Cost Structure
Most background check web sites charge on the same basis- a single price for one single background check report, or a higher rate and volume discounts of access to the databases for an unlimited number of basic background checks. Advanced background checks are usually priced on a per-report basis and will cost more.